Weimraner Molly diagnosed today 6.5 years old

[dcorun]

Hello, My name is Dawn, I am new to the site as my Weimraner (Molly 6.5 years old) was diagnosed today with Cushings via a low dose dex test. We probably would not have known had she not eaten the cover of a Wii remote in March which had to be surgically removed. When her shaved fur didn't grow back we grew concerned as excess water consumption has also been a concern for some time.

Our vet, who has always been wonderful, typically treats with Trilostane however did say he tends to not treat until the dog shows more symptoms. He believes Molly's symptoms are moderate right now. Current impact on me is that after work I allow her all the water she wants which results in her waking me up in the middle of the night usually around 2am and 5am to go out which absolutely sucks. Broken sleep is not a good quality of life for me night after night which I know sounds selfish.

So I am leaning towards treating but the costs are so much at $100 per month plus tests over the next 2 years if she lives that long is a lot to swallow. She is young so I suppose she could live longer. Unfirtunately my husband and I don't totally agree on the money, he was fine paying to get the foreign object out of her but doesn't agree with pumping her full of meds now when she is a happy dog overall. Of course he isnt the one letting her out at night either. I know I will get my way in the end but I am honestly trying to weigh all the facts. We are going to try and get pregnant next month and will have a lot more to deal with soon if all goes to plan.

Does anyone have experience with waiting to treat? The vet says I can take some time to decide so of course I took to the internet and ended up here.

[StarDeb55]

Welcome to you & Molly! I'm certainly glad you found us, but very sorry for the reason that brings you here. I must compliment your vet on stating that he normally doesn't treat until the pup has strong symptoms. Symptoms are a huge part of making the diagnosis, & they are very important in monitoring the effectiveness of the drug you may use to treat. If you don't mind, it would help us a whole lot to give you more meaningful feedback, if you would gather up copies of all testing that was done on Molly to make the diagnosis, & post those results for us. This would also include any general labwork such as a super chemistry panel or senior wellness panel. On the general labs, we only need the abnormals, along with reporting units & normal ranges. We are specifically interested in liver function tests, & a urinalysis, including the specific gravity.

One thing I can suggest to help moderate the costs of treatment is the use of a compounding pharmacy to get Molly's trilostane made. A huge number of members use Diamondback Drugs, including myself, & I can't think of anyone who has been unhappy with their service. I believe that they will ship anywhere in the country for a standard fee.

I can't offer much help on trilostane, specifically, as I have treated 2 pups with lysodren. I'm sure the trilo parents will be along to offer their advice & help.

Looking forward to hearing more.

Debbie

[lulusmom]

Hi Dawn and welcome to you and Molly.

Debbie has done a good job of covering my questions and requests so I'll limit my comments to Molly's excessive drinking and peeing. It sounds as though you may be limiting Molly's water during the day which is not good if her urine is dilute. Dogs with cushing's lose the ability to concentrate their urine so they have excessive passage of urine resulting in frequent urination. When this happens, the dog must drink more to remain hydrated so withholding water at any point during the day or night can have dire consequences. I know how difficult it is to deal with this particular symptom. Unfortunately one of my cushdogs has diabetes insipidus that doesn't respond to medication and will drink and pee huge amounts for the rest of his life. Thank goodness for doggie doors and potty pads.

We're glad to have you as part of our family and will be anxiously awaiting more information on your precious girl.

Glynda

[dcorun]

I do give her water in the morning before I leave; but I just can't let her drink and drink all morning or she will pee in her crate and then have to lay in it all day. She is crated because she is such a chewer.....two surgeries in her life to remove 1) my wallet when she was 1 year old and 2) the Wii remote cover this past March; so the vet suggested we crate her during the day. As soon as I arrive home she gets as much water as she would like. I did review this routine with the vet and he said for now this seems fine unless we see changes. Her behavior is completely normal still - very playful and typical weim behavior. If it gets to the point where I have to give her so much water that she can't control the peeing I would probably just spend the money to treat her because it isn't human to let her pee all over herself everyday. I know a lot of these cases are euthenized early than needed for this very reason.

[dcorun]

Going off my notes from yesterday's vet discussion the first reading on the low dose dex suppression test was in the 7s and it really didn't change so she didn't suppress anything. Her lab values that were abnormal in March were liver enzyme (can't remember the # but it was in the high range) her cholesterol was high and the white blood cells were low of course that was when she ate the remote cover and was dealing with an infection. The kidney values and glucose were normal. She had a urinalysis last week for a UTI but the vet said everything else was normal except the infection - I don't know if specific gravity was part of that but I can find out. Her weight is 88 pounds if that matters and is not fluctuating. I feed her taste of the wild dry dog food...should I be considering any dietary changes or vitamins?

[Roxee's Dad]

Hi Dawn and welcome to you and Molly from me too.

Looks like you are getting plenty of help :D I just wanted to note that I manually approved your last 2 post. Please check your e-mail for a message from k9cushings and follow the instructions to complete your registration. You may want to check in your spam folder if you don't see it in your in box.

Once you complete registration, you post will appear automatically. :)

[dcorun]

I rec'd an email saying my account is activated? Is that correct?